Kobe (24 page)

* * * * *

              Denise's blood tastes like sweet copper. It floods into his mouth as soon as he punctures her lower organs.

              After Skaggs has had enough, he rises to let the spiders attack his kill. The cave stinks like rotten eggs as Denise's pants soak up shit and piss.

              Skaggs leaves the half empty blood bag to his furry helpers and effortlessly moves the rocks from the entrance way, hungry for a different flavor of blood.

Chapter XXX

From The Cave to The Grave

              Arachnid guts paint the cavern as Underwood sprays a full clip at the miniature monsters. What doesn't hit them destroys Marley's carcass or bounces off the cave walls.

              After they're all dead, Underwood admires his handiwork. "I got 'em good, huh Daniels?"

              Underwood looks over at his mentor and cringes. The armor protected Daniels' chest, but his face is in shreds from ricocheted bullets. The large officer falls and his knees crunch on the dead spiders.

             
'I'm such a fucking idiot'
he thinks to himself.

              Detective Daniels was smart, and never hesitated to teach those around him. When Underwood got out of the academy, no one believed he would last a week. Except Daniels, he treated everyone with respect, and now he's dead because of negligence.

* * * * *

              Washington hears the sound of gunfire. He sheaths his badass blade and brings out an AR-15.

              His team follows close behind in the wide open area. "Turn around ya'll, it sounds like they started the party without us." He looks back for an answer, but instead sees an army of spiders attacking Dwight and Kessler.

              Washington smashes the little monsters with his size twelve steel-toed boots, but they won't stop. The Bayside cop lights them up with lead from his machine gun, killing all the spiders he can.

              Kessler's not quick enough and they tunnel underneath her vest, up her pant legs, and in any other opening they can find.

              Afraid to shoot her, Washington throws his gun on the ground and attacks using his blade. Washington pushes the female officer to the ground and slices the spiders in two, the ones he can catch that is. Despite his best effort, she dies in his arms.

              The monsters retreat back into the cave clay, more like a battalion than a group of unwanted pests.

              Dwight, an ex-marine sworn into the civilian world, swipes the beasts off with a machete before smashing them into the rock. He's a rookie on the force but a natural killer. He wipes the thoraxes off his shins. "What the fuck were those things?"

              "Hell if I know man, but they fucked Kessler up. You see this?" Washington asks, "Right now we need to..."

              Kessler starts to shake, but it's not from rigor mortis. Spiders evacuate out of her cheeks and stomach, spreading her skin to make their escape.

              Washington jumps back.

              Dwight rips her body apart with bullets killing off the rest of the spiders. "Let's catch this junkie and get the fuck outta this cave."

* * * * *

              Skaggs pushes through the rubble from his do-it-yourself earthquake. Seven spiders crawl off Denise's dead body and join their master.

              "Looking for me?" Blood and bits of flesh drip out of Skaggs' mouth.

              "Skaggs?"Underwood asks.

              "The one and only," Skaggs spits out a piece of skin and takes a bow.

              "Did you... Did you eat Denise?" Underwood twitches his bottom lip.

              "Some of her, not the parts I wanted to, though," Skaggs winks, "I let my friends have the rest," he surveys the area, "looks like you've already met those little guys, huh?" The spiders crawl from their master towards Underwood.

              Underwood grabs his assault rifle and let's off two rounds before the clip runs out. Neither hit Skaggs.

              "Wasted all your ammo on my creepy crawlies, didn't ya?"

              The spiders surround Underwood.

              "Hold on kiddos," Skaggs motions for them to stop with the palm of his hand, "let's give this meal a chance to defend itself."

              Underwood tosses his gun and pulls a stainless steel knife from his boot.

              Skaggs gives a Grinch-like grin and crouches down, "she tasted real nice Underwood."

              "Fuck you!" Underwood paces from side to side, keeping his eyes glued to the monster. "How'd you know my name psycho?"

              "I know a lot about this team now. Good ol' Denise lent me her brains," Skaggs taps the side of his head with a razorblade finger, "you, Marley, Daniels, Judd, all of ya," he sticks his tongue out, and licks the edge of the razor, the steel slides across the bottom of his tongue. "And now you..." Skaggs slices into the meat of his flavor-saver, "get to find out all about me." The razor blade splits through the middle of his tongue like a lizard.

* * * * *

              "It's beautiful up here, huh?" Krystal walks over to the other side of the mountain facing the town.

              The smoke from the BBQ Pitt faintly flows near the clouds. To the right, the top of a cabin is in the distance, Katie's final resting place.

              "Not all of it," Austin looks out across the disillusioned town, "but from all the way up here you can't tell how fucked up the world is." Austin wraps his arms around her waist from behind.

              "The world isn't fucked up," Krystal leans her head back and places it on Austin's shoulder. She tightens his arms around her waist and looks back, into her boyfriend's bright eyes. "Just some of the people are. If we look at everything with the glass half empty we can't move forward.

              "Your dad is a piece of shit, and it's terrible what he did to Katie, but that doesn't mean this whole town is fucked up." Krystal turns around to face him. "Or the whole world for that matter," her hand glides against the uneven stubble on Austin's face, "we," Krystal slides her hand to the back of Austin's head, "you and I," she pulls him close until their noses touch, "aren't fucked up."

              The tip of her mouth eases softly into his, wrapping itself around his top lip, tight but soft, until she kisses him.

              Her lips roll back and forth allowing their tongues to come free and dance together.

              Austin gently rubs Krystal's back as she glides her fingers from his head to his sides.

              She pulls out of the kiss and slowly unbuckles his belt.

              "We're a little fucked up," Austin nibbles on the back of her neck as she unzips his pants.

              His cock is as hard as a tree trunk. She pulls the skin of his shaft up and down. Austin leans his head back and guides Krystal's head to his crotch.

              She bends at the waist and inhales his dick deep into her esophagus, tickling her gag reflex.

              Krystal's tonsils seize the tip of his penis squeezing him into the pleasure zone.

              His breath comes out in rigid gasps.

              Her throat releases, and slowly slides off his dick. She slurps the foam of her spit off the tip and continues to caress him with the calluses of her hand.

              Austin pulls down Krystal's shorts and rubs her crotch slowly, massaging the moist liquid before sliding his fingers in and out. She moans with satisfaction and sucks on his ear, licking his lobes.

              Krystal maneuvers her lover’s cock, rubbing it around her slit until the tip slides in. Austin simultaneously pushes himself further in, until her brown eyes shut with pleasure. 

              Quick moans slip out of her as she rapidly inhales short breaths of fresh mountain air.

              A tree provides balance as Austin pushes his pelvis closer to hers, burying himself deeper inside of his beautiful Italian lover.

              The warm walls of her vagina interlock with the pulse of his penis. She rocks her body, squatting up and down, rolling him from side to side.

              Her hands grab the tree branch as Austin digs his fingers into the squishy fat of her ass. He picks her up as she clenches her meaty thighs around him, locking her ankles under his butt. He pounds faster, harder, until Krystal can barely hold on to the branch.

* * * * *

              Skaggs crawls up the side of the wall. He attaches his spiny legs into the clay. The hydraulic movements mimic his master, Charlotte. His two legs scurry like he has six more.

              And then he jumps.

              Underwood is ready for him, he might not be intelligent, but he is gifted with great hand eye coordination. Underwood uses his athletic skills and sinks his knife into Skaggs' side. The blade pierces the maniac's kidney.

              Skaggs' hunger outweighs the pain. He bites onto Underwood's baby-soft cheek. The flesh covering Underwood's jaw rips, exposing raw, red muscle tissue.

              Skaggs swallows the skin whole.

              The once vibrant cop shakes and shivers, he concentrates on living another moment.

              Skaggs throws the officer down and pulls out the knife from his side. "Nice try, pretty boy." He grits his teeth as the blade exits his liver. Once it's out he groans with relief. He licks the blood from his blade. "Umm, umm, just like mom used to make."

              "Sick...fuck." Underwood manages to murmur.

              "Famous last words," Skaggs digs the knife into Underwood's belly. Skaggs pulls it across to open up the muscular cop's abdominal area.

              Skaggs reaches in to the Underwood's stomach and rips his intestines out. Skaggs buries his face in the raw innards and chows down.

              The Wolf spiders attach themselves to Underwood's neck and feast on his blood.

* * * * *

              As Hunter sleeps, Tamara walks into her husband's study. She pulls open a fake bookshelf goes down the stairs until she hears the scurry of eight legged creatures, one eight legged creature in particular, a mother like her.

              "Charlotte? I know you're in here, sweetie, I've come to let you drink from me."

              The giant Wolf spider crawls out of a burrow in the ground. Tamara stares into the arachnid's hollow eyes.

              "C'mere, don't be afraid." Tamara bites into her arm and motions for the orange and brown spider to suck her blood.

              Charlotte pops her legs and crawls over to the wife of her master. She hovers her thick tusks over Tamara's wound.

              Tamara watches Hunter's creation, its apprehensive mannerisms can tell something is afoot, but the smell of such wonderful blood allows her to suckle at the sore.

              Charlotte uses her front two jointed legs to pull back the wound and she slurps Tamara's blood tastes like a glass of cool lemonade.

              When the spider becomes intoxicated from Tamara's blood, she backs away.

              Her coordination gives way and the spider swerves back and forth. Charlotte turns around to go back into her spot between the rocks, but before the drunk spider can make it, Tamara stabs her in the abdomen.

              The spider screeches in pain, and gushes liquid onto the clay floor. Tamara rips off the beast's head and sucks all the venom out.

              Charlotte's legs spread in and out repeatedly until she withers into a ball.

              Tamara tosses the Wolf spider's head to the ground. An abundance of knowledge flows into the Italian rock star's brain. The movement of the spiders becomes second nature to her.

              She can feel them at the command of her fingertips, an army of eight legged creatures at her beck and call.

Chapter XXXI

Innards

              "They musta got that jerk-off!" Judd halts dead in his tracks. "Ya'll hear all that gunfire!"

              "Sure did Sherriff!" Bert says.

              "Turn yer asses back around and follow the sound of them party-poppers."

              "Yes sir," Bert runs back upstairs towards the sound of bullets breaking wind.

* * * * *

              Washington and Dwight arrive at the massacre first. In the wide cave area, underneath beautiful stalactites, the officers focus on bullet casings, half eaten bodies, and a monster dining on bloody intestines.

              Despite his military training Dwight is speechless, but Washington doesn't even blink. He unloads rounds into Skaggs, knocking the monster twenty feet back.

              Entrails rip apart as the junkie lands on his back. Half of Underwood's innards are in Skaggs' mouth, and the other half are still attached to the dead cop's body.

              Skaggs looks up at the big Bayside officer, and watches his fate unfold.

              "Time to get your fuckin' head," Washington throws his machine gun on to the cave floor and extracts his hunting knife.

              His stomach torn to shreds, Skaggs spits out the innards and falls to the cave floor.

              Dwight shoots the spiders crawling in and out of the multiple corpses, stomps them as they try to flee. Dwight ignores Skaggs and concentrates on the blood-sucking beasts.

* * * * *

              Washington stands above the dying junkie. The big black crime fighter grips the knife through the brass knuckles. He straddles Skaggs and punches the murderer in the face as hard as he can.

              Over, and over, and over again.

              Puss, venom, blood, teeth, all pile on to Washington's knuckles. Once satisfied, he stops pile-driving his fists into Skaggs. Washington flings the bits of cheekbone off his hands.

              "Whatcha think Dwight?" Washington asks between rapid breaths.

              "I think it's time to blow our whistle," Dwight says, "get this fool arrested before his heart stops."

              Skaggs looks like a pile of fresh hamburger, but only for a moment. Then his teeth begin to harden again. They grow back, longer, sharper, like fangs.

              His face grows back too, uglier, more bulbous, and with extra eyes in his cheeks. He Laughs. His stomach rumbles from fits of joy.

              Washington and Dwight watch in stunned amazement.

              Skaggs grabs both of his adversary's biceps.

              Washington tries to move but Skaggs' grip is too tight. The more he struggles, the harder Skaggs' squeezes. The monster pulls Washington's arms, stretching them as the police officer howls in pain.

              With a loud pop, Skaggs tears his enemy's shoulders out of the sockets. Washington screams as his tendons squirt goo.

* * * * *

              Bert hears the screams, the thumps, the gun blasts. His body shakes, and his mouth quivers.

              He's not ready for this.

              He grips his rifle with his finger on the trigger with stark white knuckles.

* * * * *

              Skaggs pushes Washington down on the clay while still holding his victim's arms.

              Washington rolls around on the ground in disbelief, he doesn't even scream anymore.

              Skaggs beats the Bayside cop repeatedly with his own arms as Dwight reloads his clip. Skaggs throws down Washington's limbs and un-holsters the dying man's sidearm; a forty caliber pistol.

              Before he can raise it up to blow Dwight's brains out, the military warrior unloads lead into Skaggs.

              The bullets push Skaggs into a stalagmite.             

              "I'm gonna fucking kill you," Dwight walks towards the man with a spider's face, "You son of a bitch!"

              "You said it! My mom was a bitch." Skaggs wipes the blood from his tusks, "one hell of a bitch, but now she's dead," Skaggs laughs, "just like all your friends."

              Dwight still has his aim on Skaggs, but slows down. "Why won't you die you fuckin' freak?"

              Before Dwight can get an answer out of the six eyed monster, Skaggs fires off two rounds.

              Dwight hits the deck and rolls behind Marley's body, at least who he thinks is Marley.

              Skaggs shoves the pistol down the back of his pants, jumps ten feet high, and attaches his hands and feet to the wall. Purple gunk bleeds out of the bullet holes. He climbs up to the ceiling where all the stalactites hang.

* * * * *

              Jaybird and Quinn walk past the cave, knowing the outcome if the cops see them. They won't get arrested, but they'll certainly ask them to get out of the forest.

              Jason doesn't mind confrontation, he revels in it, but he does hate obstructions. And a cop harassing him for merely taking a stroll through the woods will definitely take time out of his day.

              "Think he's in that cave?" Quinn asks.

              "They got it guarded pretty well. We can't just walk in waving to the police."

              "You know another way in?" Quinn asks Jaybird.

              "Yeah, I know where an opening is on the other side of that mountain." Jay points his finger north.

              "I bet they got that guarded too," Quinn says.

              "We have to try it. If we walk around the right or left, they'll spot us and start asking us all kinds of bullshit questions," Jaybird says, "I think the best bet is to go up and over."

* * * * *

              Judd, Bert and Ellington arrive at the bloodbath.

              "Dwight, what the fuck's goin' on?" Judd yells.

              Dwight keeps firing at the fugitive behind the safety of Marley's desecrated corpse. "He's a fucking monster!"

              Bert trips over Underwood's carcass. The rookie crashes into the cave wall. He rolls over to look at the scene and vomits all over the dead bodies.

              The spiders burrow into the clay, vanishing from the scene of the crime.

              Judd and Ellington run over to Dwight with their assault rifles raised.

              Skaggs knocks down a stalactite. It smashes on the ground, shaking the foundation.

              Washington turns blue from blood loss, and slowly drifts off into his final sleep.

              "Ya'll can't shoot for shit, can ya?" Skaggs yells down to the policeman

              Judd takes aim but he can't see behind the limestone rock formations that Skaggs hides behind. "Why don't cha come down here and say that, boy?"

              "Why? So you can kill me just like you kilt Leroy?" Skaggs screams.

              Judd fires a stream of bullets, "I don't know what the fuck yer talkin' bout ya filthy cocksucker!"

              Skaggs knocks down another stalactite. "Don't worry pig, I'm gonna come get you as soon as I heal up, you watch Judd. I'ma kill you."

* * * * *

              The spiders crawl back to the safety of their home, but they know something is amiss. Tamara, their new mother waits for them. Not many spiders are left. It's been a rough day for cave stricken arachnids.

              Charlotte's segmented body is scattered across the hideaway. As they arrive, Tamara motions for them all to sit near her.  She stands up with the torch high in her hands, the spiders look up to the flame.

              Slowly, she pours oil from her lamp all over the eight legged beasts. They scatter but not fast enough. She throws the lamp on them and sets the spiders on fire.

              Tamara hops out of the way and watches the Wolf spiders squirm and squeal. They try to burrow in the clay to put the fire out, but to no avail, the oil is soaked into their exoskeletons. 

              After they are all dead, Tamara stomps out the flames.

              She feels Skaggs inside of her mind, faintly, his growing tusks, his strengthened skin, but she can also feel the bullets that have struck him.

              The pain Judd and the other cops have caused him.

              It isn't over, Skaggs is still on the run, but she is more concerned with her secret being revealed than a few cops losing their lives.

              She smiles, satisfied and goes back to lay with the love of her life.

* * * * *

              Ellington, Judd, and Dwight continue firing at Skaggs. His weird body jumps gracefully, and without fail.

              Skaggs kicks the stalactites. They crack and eventually dislodge from the cave ceiling. One of the limestone creations falls near Dwight and Judd. The two cops jump out of the way.

              Skaggs laughs, "I'll getcha fuckers eventually." He kicks another one, it shakes and splits. Officer Dwight tries to jump out of the way, but before he can find a safe spot, the long slender spike smashes through his head.

              Judd shoots and misses. His bullets knock off more stalactites, opening up a hole for Skaggs to climb through.

* * * * *

              Austin pumps faster and faster. With every stroke Krystal's thighs jiggle quicker. She screams louder with each strong thrust, oblivious to all the violence just below her sweaty naked body.

              Austin slows down.

              He licks the sweat from her neck, sucking her skin deep into his mouth. His hands massage her chest and stomach as the two rock from side to side, with their pelvises interlocked like puzzle pieces.

* * * * *

              Jaybird and Quinn hear the rhythm of the two lovers. Jaybird snickers, "somebody's sure having a nice Monday, I gotta say I wish it was me," Jaybird looks back at his friend.

              Quinn cracks a smile, "yeah me too."

              "You ever been with a woman, young blood?"

              "Kinda."

              "What do you mean, kinda?"

              "I've made out with girls, and I got a hand-job once."

              Jaybird laughs, "you got a lot to learn little man." Jaybird grabs on to the root of a tree and pulls himself up. "You ready for this?"

              "Yeah, Jay, I didn't tell you, but," Quinn drifts off.

              "What's up man?"

              "I coulda killed him, but I got scared."

              "Dude," Jaybird stops climbing, "It ain't easy to kill, especially your own brother. You're just a kid, Quinn."

              "But it was my Mom, I let him do it, I coulda..." the waterworks poor out of him.

              "It's alright, man," Jason hugs his young protégé. The tears and snot pour out onto Jaybird's clothes. "We'll get him. I promise."

* * * * *

              After enough stalactites break Skaggs manages to make a big enough hole to crawl out of. The blinding sunlight burns his troglodyte skin, but the bullets feel worse. He makes the obvious choice and crawls through the hole.

              Skaggs stabs his razor blades into the earth and pulls himself out of the cave, his other hand grips onto the grass. He wiggles through and flops on the top of the mountain.

              The sound of moans and skin slapping get his attention. Skaggs watches Austin squeeze on to Krystal's melons for dear life, and thrust faster and faster.

              Skaggs enjoys the show, but remembers his loneliness. No girl ever fucked him. No hot bitch ever let him see her tits. The six-eyed monster pulls the forty caliber pistol from the back of his jeans.

              Skaggs can barely hold his hand cannon with his recent wounds working against him. He musters up the energy and pulls the trigger.